Colm Boyle said he was "very surprised" to see Galway man Joe Canney added to Kevin McStay's Mayo GAA backroom team this week.
Corofin club man Canney joins Stephen Rochford, Donie Buckley and Damien Mulligan in the backroom team. He won an All-Ireland title with Corofin in 2015 when Rochford was the club's manager. Canney's introduction comes following the departure of Liam McHale.
"My initial thoughts, I am surprised and I find it strange," Boyle told the Mayo Football Podcast, "probably on two fronts: Number one, obviously Liam McHale stepped away and I remember you asked me a couple of weeks later did I think he would be replaced and my initial thoughts on it were that he probably wasn't going to be replaced.
25 June 2023; Galway GAA manager Padraic Joyce, right, and Mayo GAA manager Kevin McStay after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Preliminary Quarter Final match between Galway and Mayo at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
"My feelings were that with Donie Buckley, Stephen Rochford, who I know well from coaching me over the years, and Damien Mulligan there, I would have felt that there was enough expertise there and that those boys have the skill set and the know-how on coaching the Mayo team. So bringing in an extra person into that surprised me number one."
READ HERE: Boyle Says McHale Comments About Mayo GAA Departure 'Unnecessary'
Boyle continued: "Then number two, and absolutely nothing against Joe Canney at all - I don't know the man personally.
"I obviously knew him as a player for Corofin and what he has done since in a coaching sense.
6 July 2019; Eamonn Brannigan of Galway GAA is tackled by Colm Boyle of Mayo GAA during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Round 4 match between Galway and Mayo at the LIT Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
"I am extremely surprised that it is him that they've gone for. Maybe it's because I'm from the border, I don't know what it is, but bringing someone in from Galway [GAA] just doesn't sit right with me into a Mayo set-up.
"I just feel like that if they were going for a younger, up-and-coming coach, why not look inside our own county? Why go over the border and pick someone from Galway [GAA], who let's be honest, probably sees this as a stepping stone to getting into the Galway [GAA set-up] in a couple of years' time."
READ HERE: How Abdullah Abbasi Found Love For Hurling In Mayo
Colm Boyle gives his initial reaction to the news that Kevin McStay has drafted Joe Canney from Galway into his coaching team
Hear the full show here: https://t.co/wDomAR1NSc #mayogaa #GAA pic.twitter.com/BrZMy9X76I
— Mayo Football Podcast (@MayoPodcast) October 10, 2023
See Also: The 1998 GAA All-Star Football Team: Where Are They Now?
